Chelsea have suffered a double injury scare ahead of the Carabao Cup final this weekend after Mateo Kovacic and Hakim Ziyech both limped off in the first leg of the Lille Champions League knockout tie.
Both players limped off after the interval in what could have handed Liverpool a massive advantage ahead of the cup final on Sunday.
First off, a dazzling Kovacic style run didn't pay any dividends goal wise and unfortunately the after effects meant that the Croatian couldn't continue.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who himself has just returned from an injury, was his replacement on this occasion as Tuchel opted to avoid throwing Jorginho into the fold in case he was to pick up a knock too.
"Must of got a whack first-half and might’ve said, ‘I’ll go out there and see how it is,’ but to make that substitution so quickly after half-time. In a bit of pain isn’t he," commentator Glenn Hoddle said when seeing footage of the midfielder limping down the tunnel in the aftermath of the incident.
"You wonder whether it was that sprint that he had when the game opened up first couple of minutes of the second-half or whether they said at half-time, ‘it’s a slight injury, go out and see what it’s like,’ but obviously he had to come off."
More worryingly for Chelsea though, their star player in the last few weeks, Hakim Ziyech, also had to be withdrawn after going down with no one else around him.
The Moroccan first went down shortly after Kovacic was replaced, and after trying to play through the pain for around 30 seconds, he went back down and as a result, Atletico Madrid loanee Saul Niguez was summoned from the bench.
"That’s not a good sight when there’s no clash, no player near him. Twisted his ankle or something, hopefully not his Achilles because there was no opposition when it happened," Hoddle said on BT Sport 2.
On the pitch, things were a lot more brighter for Tuchel and co as Christian Pulisic added to Kai Havertz's first half header after brilliant link-up play with N'Golo Kante in the 63rd minute.
However, these two fresh injuries give flashbacks to the bittersweet Juventus home win in the group phase, a win that came at a major cost as Ben Chilwell's season ended on that night back in November.
Chelsea will of course hope the injuries to Kovacic and Ziyech are not serious, although Liverpool themselves are sweating on the fitness of key stars with Roberto Firmino and Diogo Jota facing a race against time to be fit for Sunday's clash.
football.london will be hearing from manager Tuchel post-match in his press conference and he is sure to be asked about the pair's injuries.
In the meantime, keep fully up to date with Chelsea vs Lille in football.london's live blog here.
